126 



NEW ENC4LAND FARMER. 



[Nov. 11, 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. I 'a^ie discovery and process of tlie_ meal ; and 



. j can show belter swine than any ol my nei?n- 



FRI DAY^J^OV KMBF-R II, is e5. 1(3,,^,,^ ^^^ produce of the same a?e : if people 



SS^5RNAM^C0B:FEALro^^FEEDT^^ ">'^>' "^^^' co,ne"and see for 



• themselves. 



, ''I have niso made fuiilicr discovery of the 

 [Extract of a letter from the Rev. H. C. Perky, ^ „jg of cob-meal for oilier purposes besides feed- 



CATTLE, he. 



of jYezi' Rowley, Mass. to the Editor of the j 

 J\'era En'^hmd Farmer.'] • \ 



" There have been, of l«te years, two mil'^ 

 erected in this qnarter of the cotinlry, In grinc 



ing swine and cattlt 



" I had one batch of coarse brown bread, 

 made of it, ground about hall' and hall ; — sitted 

 as usual, and the apiilicawon of the usual qnan 



cobs and corn together: one in Danvors, and t lily o( rye meal. The bread was as high coi- 

 another in And.iver, by I. Osg-'od, C^(|. a very ) oured, as |ighl, as siveot and as moist as iha 



respectalde gentleman and farmer, i think if; made of pure Indian and rye meal ; 

 people cnnbj be favoured by some lucid inlbr-| think it will dry ralhersooner. Pete 



though 1 

 r Marstori, 



other, mostly on account of the co/our of the beef," &c: 

 Mr Rice then goes on to givp. further statements show- 

 ing; the e6Scacy of "cob and corn meal," which it ia 

 not necessary to repeat, as they may be found ia the 

 publications menlinnod at the commciicenient of this 

 extract. Our readers vrU\ also recollect Mr Lowell's 

 observations on thi* subject in his Report at ihc Brigli- 

 ton Cattle Show, which may be found page 1 10 of the 

 •current volume of the Kew F.n^dand Farmer. 



The thirJ volume of the Memoirs of Ih- Philadelphia 

 So'.-iety for rromoting .'.giicnltiu'e contains the follow- 

 ing; article t 



On the iitiliiy of gi-indhxi^ .1/n;"~r {^Indian Corn") in 

 the Cob. an food for Catllc. rcilh a ilescri/ilion 

 nfa Milt for the pnrposs, by James Mease, AI. D. 



The praclice of crind'nj; Indian corn in the 



mation on the benefit of cob-meal ihoy would j Esq. ate of the bread before he was informed dl' 



be brought into the general use of this discov- 1 the composition; and aflcrwards declared he ^ 



ery. Thou.:rh there mav be no honour in Ihc | had no mistrust it was made any other than the ,<•"''- 'o powder, for the pnrpncp „l l,orse fcpj, 



discoverj, I think there is much benefit to he usual way." :s now common with our German farm.nsr !el- 



derived to farmers from a free use of the cob. 

 My object now is to give you some account of | 



By Ihc Editor. — We are much intle'ulcd to Mr Por- 



the time and manner of the discovery by me ; ley for the foregoing-, and have no doubt but the article 

 nnd to ascertain ivholher there was any use j will prove benclicial to the public. Should any of oar 

 made of the Indian cob, by grinding, previous' readers be able to furnish the inlbrmafion he requests, 

 to the time I shall mention ; assd if there was, 



low citizens. Those indu^triou* men are e\ er 

 allentive tolhe heallh:iiid gnneial welfare of 

 their farm stock, am! readily adi'pl any tneasuro 

 calcidaled to promote eilhor ol.jpcl, and as they 

 are convinced of the nourishing (jualities of ihe 



by whom and when Ihe discovery was made.^ ; by grinding previous to the time he has mentioned, we 



, ., ., , ,.,, , ,. "' jcob, and the pconomv of the [iraciice (d'usinfif it 



VIZ. whether there was any use made ol the Indian cob ' . , ,./..•, ■ , °, 



' «s an article ol lood, Ihey have oncouiMged the 



"In. the winler of 1007-8 mj corn threshing ^j^ 



machine became nut of repair so as to admit 

 pieces of corn through the rack of i-, 3 and 

 some of an inch long, \vhich | bad not time to 



,,, , ,,,.,.,, general erection of the necessary apparatus, in 



ouKl be happy to receive and publish it. In the mean V, n „-iu ;„ .i • i a' .,.,i "„iii^„ .„ 



'^'^■' . "; the Hour mills in their dcllfrenl ^eiik mcnis. 



time we will contribute our mite, which, though not 

 original, may be useful to some whose attention may 

 not have been directed to the subject of the present in- 

 quiry. 



vol. i. 



page ; 



It was contained in a communicatioi 



separate from the slielled corn. 1 snnt all (o Ihe 

 mill together, and found Ihe nual came home 

 a= fine to a[ipcarancn as wh?n l!io corn had no 

 cob amnns; it. \Vhen I found this to ho the case, 

 I designedly «ent the grist to m'll with an in- 

 creased quantity of the cob among the corn ; , 

 until I quesiioned the boy to knmy-if the miller i''? *'■" ■^^-'^ T^^ce jr. of Shrewsbury. In that paper h^ 

 made anv observations on my noi olo.ininp; my ; observes as fu.Uows : " The kind of meal I have used fo: 

 corn. His answer was, yes; (Mr. Cross) (he ' seven years past, almost exclusively for provender, is 

 miller said if Mr. Perley "wis too lazy to clean ' corn and cobs cracked and ground together, which i^ 

 bis corn, he would not (U ittorhim. After this i the best provender I have ever made use of for fattening 

 i visited the miller, apd informed him of iny de- , cattle. The reason I consider the cob useful is. It swells 

 sifn ; and a'l'repd wi'lh him to grind mv Cob.=, af- 1 in the creature and keeps liim in good order; in no one 

 ter I had poiimlen Ihem sufficienliy line to get I instance since I have fed with this meal, have my cat- 

 Ihrou'^h his mi" with the corn, and make de- lie been out of order by being cloyed, or scouring, they 

 cent meal — which 1 attended to, and had cobs ' nre at all times regular, but when I formerly fed with 

 and corn .ground together ; and I (lut but about i clear Indian, or oats and Indian, it was not unfrequenl 



The first apparalus i>-ed lor the purpnsp of 

 grindinsj corn in the coh. was a screw which was 

 originally invented by Oliver Evans of Philadel- 

 phia, and now in general n.se to break gypsum. 



The first notice we recollect to have seen of cob K],, Evans first reduced it to practice in ihe year 

 meal was published in the iWass. Agric. Repository fori 1799, (,„< no measurof having been taken to "give 

 January Iti^S, and republished in the N. E. ?"arn.er,| p„l,|icitv to it, Ihc knowledge of it was difl'u-cd 



one peciv of corn to a bushel of cobs. Moai ; 



made of this coiiiposi'.ion 1 scahled, and made [ 



about as thick .as comnion hasly p.uldin? ; or ^,;;y ,„,7j^„ ^^„,^^^ j^^,^ ,„^^.ji^^^^^ „,^p^ 



mixed about one peck ol the meal ivilh three' 



peck 



pecks of boiled [lolaloe', thickened to the con- 

 sistency of pudding. With tJiis kind of food, 

 and what wa«h was made in Ihc family, [ con- 

 stantly fo(] my swine : there were none in the 

 ncighbourhoorl grew so fast, nr were fit to kill 

 CO soon in the autumn. The noig;hbnrs were 



that their bowels would get out of order, and I have 

 had considerable difEcully in regulating them again. 



When 

 this kind of provender was first introduced in this vi- 

 cinity it had its opposition like almost all new things. 

 The second year, if I mistake not, which I made use of 

 it, I thought I would try an experiment as follows, by 

 feeding one ox with corn and oats ground, the other 

 with corn and cobs, having a yoke of oxen so even 



verv graihially through llie counlry ; ami it even 

 appears that private ofi'eis for llie graluitoiis use 

 ol it were inelTcctiial, (unlil after sume years.) 

 in causing a trial of wbiil is now deemed an eco- 

 nomical praclice of t!ie (irsl ronsoquen."C. 



It was not until ihe year U;u.j, th.it 1 lieard of 

 the practice having been adopted in Lancaster 

 county, and in IC04 1 had jr^at pleasure in see- 

 ing it in operation, in a mill on the Perkiomen 

 creek, in Monlgomery couniy, Pennsylvania. — 

 1 was so fully persuaded of the nlilily of the 

 praclice, that I wished to profit by it, and en- 

 deavourifl In persuade a miller in D< lawiirc 

 county, near to where I had a f.irmins iiileresl, 

 to erect one. but wilbr^ut avail. His scruples 

 arose from an a[iprehension of an insinuation on 

 the pari of some people. Ihal he would mix the 

 meal of the corn and cob with his wheat flour, 

 and he well knew that the mere suggestion of 

 such a praclice might prove injurious to his 

 repulalion. 



Indian corn is of itself too nourisbinsr, and too 



surprised that my ho^s looked so" while and '"'^''=''"' "*"' no <"ie who viewed (he cattle appeared j heating as a constant article of diet for horses, 

 ■■•■"-" ■ - satisfied which was best, accordingly I fed them as , and if fei\ alone, a sufficient quanlily cannot be 



grew so well, beintr fed as ihey were with coh 

 meal, potatoes, and the wash of four cows. — 

 Some ridiculed the nolinn; others (lis|iuled and 



dsbclieved Ihe account— hut finally all were o- third oats which w.as my former mode. I g.ive each ox ! «"" fi^'<=" '" "!•'"' "" nourishment.) wilhi.iil great 

 bliged to believe the fact, Ihough loth to (ry ! an equal quantity at a time, except that the one which j f^Pff^' •/'J'' at the same time endangering the 

 the cxperimenl. They enquired of my labour- bad corn and oats some days became dainty, and would 

 ing man, who worked on Ihe farm that and the not cat his allowance, while the other kept a regular 

 following year and prepared Ihe cobs for the ; course. The allowance for both was a little over thi-ec 

 mill, who is now a very resjeclable mechanic : ,,ecijs per day. When I look the cattle to market Mr 

 ami farmer in Melhuon by the name of William ^. \v,,itc bought them, they weighed about 28 hun- 

 arKor. drcd and an half. The one fed on corn and oats had 



"The account of this discovery I i=pread | ,^3 p„„„^,, „f t,„„„.^ „,„, „^,i ,,„^ ^bout half an hun- 

 roun.I and amon- my (r.ends in Kowley and liox- j^^,, ^^,.^_ ^j^^ „,,^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ,„3 



ord. and even ^nnt it to the eastw.ird. In the ' , r . n . - j ■ti iii.i i 1 ■ u r 



^ „ , , , , ,. ,',. 1 pounds of tallow, and Mr White pronounced his beef 



Coiin'y 0! Cuinherland ; and this year I live on 



a farm in New Howlcy, whore I am 



above. The cob is computed to make a little more [given In them to produce the slimuliis of disten- 

 'lian one third, therefore I mixed the other with one j ''on. (which is as necessary for a working hurse, 



or even to man, as no ' ' 

 expense, and at the s 



health of the animal. Corn mral is therefore 

 mixed with a portion of cut straw, and coarseiv 

 ground rye, or shorts, and in this slate consii- 

 lutes Ihe duly food of that fine body of draught 

 horses Ihal do =0 much credit to our dravmeo 

 and carters of Philadelphia, and the industrious 

 farmers of the slate at large. 



The powder of the corn cobi, however, doe.s 



not act entirely by distention : it also contains 



much nutrimeiil, and 1 have heard of a pncr wo- 



Ij'l^ibalf a dollar on the hundred bolter than thit of thelmanin Marvl.iiid who prepared during the win- 



